There is pride and patriotism in Taipei on the last day of campaigning before a vote that could shake the world.
At the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) final rally, thousands gather waving flags and screaming along to songs.
Some jump up and down with excitement – one young man with a pride banner openly weeps.
Lai Ching-te is the DPP candidate and the person most likely to win.
Image: DPP presidential candidate Lai Ching-te. Pic: AP
His party was formed from a protest movement, but now stands squarely behind one key message: standing up to China.
Election season in Taiwanis always about so much more than just domestic policy, it is about people asking themselves who they are, how they identify and how they feel about their powerful neighbour.
In his speech, Mr Lai invoked former instances when China fired missiles at the island.
“I gave up my well-paid job and decided to follow the footsteps of our elders in democracy,” he said.
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Indeed, he is framing this whole election as a choice between democracy and autocracy.
That message has clearly landed with the people we spoke to here, most were unequivocal about what their motivations are.
“China wants to take over Taiwan,” one woman told us. “This election is about freedom, democracy and human rights.”
Choice between ‘war and peace’
Of course, China sees DPP supporters as separatists and sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that will soon be reunified, if necessary by force.
That context weighs heavily on voters.
Indeed, cross-strait relations have plummeted in recent years and China has described the vote as a choice between “war and peace”.
The opposition candidate Hou Yu-ih has used a similar framing, he wants greater dialogue with the mainland.
Image: Taiwan’s Nationalist Party presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih. Pic: AP
His supporters are equally passionate, albeit with a slightly older average age, many of them want to talk about peace.
“I feel like the DPP has been causing chaos,” one woman told us. “It seems like they want the mainland to attack us.”
But Mr Hou has also been criticised for lacking a long-term strategy, when I asked him directly if he believes the status quo could last forever he evaded the question,
“The current situation under the DPP, is no longer the status quo,” he said.
“It’s gradually shifted, due to the confrontation between the two sides, we are on the brink of war.”
A three-horse race?
Image: Ko Wen-je is popular among younger voters
There is a third force in this vote, a new party, the TPP, led by a man called Ko Wen-je.
He’s been attracting a lot of younger voters with his focus on domestic issues as hundreds queued round the streets to see him.
But potentially the most disruptive force this time round is election interference with major concerns about the amount of disinformation flooding Taiwanese social media.
At a small firm called the Doublethink Lab, they are tracking the videos as they appear, trying to detect where they are from and how they are amplifying.
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Disinformation spread in Taiwan election
A lot are accusing Lai of things like extramarital affairs. Many of them are AI-generated and have clear signs they are coming from China.
“Foreign actors, they have almost unlimited resources and they have a clear goal to influence our own election. It’s an imbalanced fight,” Doublethink’s chief executive tells us.
It’s unclear how China will react to the vote, it has remained relatively quiet this week.
Taiwan is one of the most progressive places in Asia, but its politics remain some of the most complicated and some of the most high stakes.
Donald Trump has described crucial trade talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping as “amazing” – and says he will visit Beijing in April.
The leaders of the world’s two biggest economies met in South Korea as they tried to defuse growing tensions – with both countries imposing aggressive tariffs on exports since the president’s second term began.
Aboard Air Force One, Mr Trump confirmed tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the US will be reduced, which could prove much-needed relief to consumers.
It was also agreed that Beijing will work “hard” to stop fentanyl flowing into the US.
Semiconductor chips were another issue raised during their 100-minute meeting, but the president admitted certain issues weren’t discussed.
“On a scale of one to 10, the meeting with Xi was 12,” he told reporters en route back to the US.
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‘Their handshake was almost a bit awkward’
Xi a ‘tough negotiator’, says Trump
The talks conclude a whirlwind visit across Asia – with Mr Trump saying he was “too busy” to see Kim Jong Un.
However, the president said he would be willing to fly back to see the North Korean leader, with a view to discussing denuclearisation.
Mr Trump had predicted negotiations with his Chinese counterpart would last for three or four hours – but their meeting ended in less than two.
The pair shook hands before the summit, with the US president quipping: “He’s a tough negotiator – and that’s not good!”
It marks the first face-to-face meeting between both men since 2019 – back in Mr Trump’s first term.
Image: Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. Pic: AP
There were signs that Beijing had extended an olive branch to Washington ahead of the talks, with confirmation China will start buying US soybeans again.
American farmers have been feeling the pinch since China stopped making purchases earlier this year – not least because the country was their biggest overseas market.
Chinese stocks reached a 10-year high early on Thursday as investors digested their meeting, with the yuan rallying to a one-year high against the US dollar.
Analysis: A fascinating power play
Sky News Asia correspondent Helen-Ann Smith – who is in Busan where the talks took place – said it was fascinating to see the power play between both world leaders.
She said: “Trump moved quickly to dominate the space – leaning in, doing all the talking, even responding very briefly to a few thrown questions.
“That didn’t draw so much as an eyebrow raise from his counterpart, who was totally inscrutable. Xi does not like or respond well to unscripted moments, Trump lives for them.”
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Will Trump really run for a third term?
On Truth Social, Mr Trump had described the summit as a gathering of the “G2” – a nod to America and China’s status as the world’s two biggest economies.
While en route to see President Xi, he also revealed that the US “Department of War” has now been ordered to start testing nuclear weapons for the first time since 1992.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the Sudanese city of Al Fashir by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a two-day window after the paramilitary group captured the regional capital, analysts believe.
Sky News is not able to independently verify the claim by Yale Humanitarian Labs, as the city remains under a telecommunications blackout.
Stains and shapes resembling blood and corpses can be seen from space in satellite images analysed by the research lab.
Image: Al Fashir University. Pic: Airbus DS/2025
Image: Al Fashir University. Pic: Airbus DS/2025
Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of Yale Humanitarian Labs, said: “In the past 48 hours since we’ve had [satellite] imagery over Al Fashir, we see a proliferation of objects that weren’t there before RSF took control of Al Fashir – they are approximately 1.3m to 2m long which is critical because in satellite imagery at very high resolution, that’s the average length of a human body lying vertical.”
Mini Minawi, the governor of North Darfur, said on X that 460 civilians have been killed in the last functioning hospital in the city.
The Sudan Doctors Network has also shared that the RSF “cold-bloodedly killed everyone they found inside Al Saudi Hospital, including patients, their companions, and anyone else present in the wards”.
World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was “appalled and deeply shocked” by the reports.
Satellite images support the claims of a massacre at Al Saudi Hospital, according to Mr Raymond, who said YHL’s report detailed “a large pile of them [objects believed to be bodies] against a wall at one building at Saudi hospital. And we believe that’s consistent with reports that patients and staff were executed en masse”.
In a video message released on Wednesday, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo acknowledged “violations in Al Fashir” and claimed “an investigation committee should start to hold any soldier or officer accountable”.
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Army soldiers ‘fled key Sudan city’ before capture
Image: The Saudi Maternity Hospital in Al Fashir. Pic: Airbus DS /2025 via AP
The commander is known for committing atrocities in Darfur in the early 2000s as a Janjaweed militia leader, and the RSF has been accused of carrying out genocide in Darfur 20 years on.
Sources have told Sky News the RSF is holding doctors, journalists and politicians captive, demanding ransoms from some families to release their loved ones.
One video shows a man from Al Fashir with an armed man kneeling on the ground, telling his family to pay 15,000. The currency was not made clear.
In some cases, ransoms have been paid, but then more messages come demanding that more money be transferred to secure release.
Muammer Ibrahim, a journalist based in the city, is currently being held by the RSF, who initially shared videos of him crouched on the ground, surrounded by fighters, announcing his hometown had been captured under duress.
He is being held incommunicado as his family scrambles to negotiate his release. Muammer courageously covered the siege of Al Fashir for months, enduring starvation and shelling.
The Committee to Protect Journalists regional director Sara Qudah said the abduction of Muammar Ibrahim “is a grave and alarming reminder that journalists in Al Fashir are being targeted simply for telling the truth”.